NBA commish Adam Silver wants to bring more socialism to his league by spreading the wealth of great players across the game.
A star for you Jazz fans. A star player for you, Milwaukee. A transcendent All-Star scorer for you, New Orleans.
Stop it, Silver. Just stop it.
Silver helped make the rules for the current NBA free agency and now he wants it changed.
Call it the jealousy of NBA owners who are upset the Golden State Warriors landed Kevin Durant fairly in free agency.
Durant was a an amazing player for nine seasons in small market Oklahoma City. He decided to take his talents to the Bay Area and now it’s a problem for the NBA commissioner, who said in a news conference this week he doesn't think it's "ideal from the league standpoint.”
Silver said he respected Durant’s right to become a free agent, BUT……he thinks super teams are not good. He doesn’t like great players sacrificing money to come together and play with each other grousing.
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“For me, part of it is designing a collective bargaining agreement that encourages the distribution of great players throughout the league,” he said.
The public is even falling for this propaganda. I had this question posed to me on my Facebook page: “But, don't you think something should be done about competitive balance?”
The NBA champions play in Cleveland. This year’s participants in the NBA conference finals were Oklahoma City, Toronto, Golden State and Cleveland. I think that is competitive.
The NBA has 12 franchises in the top 10 television markets. The Knicks and Nets are located in the top market. The Lakers play in the second largest TV market. Chicago is third and Philadelphia is fourth. Those five franchises missed the postseason despite the fact 16 of the 30 NBA clubs qualify for the playoffs each year.
Nine clubs outside the top 10 television markets made the playoffs last year: San Antonio, Indiana, Memphis, Miami, Charlotte, Oklahoma City, Portland, Detroit and the reigning NBA champs Cleveland. That’s half of the postseason field. Folks, that is competitive.
Trying to game the system again to force star players to stay in smaller markets is not the answer but Silver says the collective bargaining agreement needs “corrections.” The league already came up with the Bird rights provision which allows teams to offer their own free agent players a fifth year and more money to re-sign with their current franchise.
Durant chose not to go back to OKC. Why is the league looking to restrict player movement? After nine seasons the Thunder were able to offer the biggest financial package yet Durant chose Golden State. That speaks to the organization not providing the former MVP the atmosphere he wanted to be in.
The San Antonio Spurs are the model franchise of the NBA.
Gregg Popovich may have the largest branch of former coaches and executives in the NBA. They play in television market No. 37. They have won five NBA titles since 1999. Their recently retired future Hall of Fame power forward Tim Duncan had the opportunity to leave numerous occassions but chose to stay. He passed on a lucurative offer to join the Orlando Magic in August of 2000. He’s signed contracts for less money in the past to give the Spurs flexibility to build a roster.
Silver should implore his owners to examine the Spurs organization as a model not offer them a rigged system to try and make sure every team has a “star” player on its roster.
The NBA doesn’t and won’t ever have 30 star players in the league at once. There is no way make every club happy. Silver needs to stop trying to appease the owners who can't keep star players.
